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Politickin' With John Brown: A Closer Look At G20 Protests

Visit John Brown's new website and check back each Thursday for a new "Politickin With John Brown" post.

In 2006, the elite members-only economic club decided to expand their group from 8 leaders to 20. Basically, it's no longer 8 countries that are selling all the records, and the new indie contenders want a seat at the VMAs, so to speak. To date, the G20 has had four meetings and it's not entirely clear what gets accomplished considering that the globe now faces its worstÂ recession since World War II. Their most recent gathering occurred in Pittsburgh last week and the only concrete results seemed to be: keep an eye on bank bonuses, avoid "protectionism" and have a photo shoot.

Interestingly, they refused to set salary caps on financial players, unlike the NBA. Great.Â But public anger is growing and spilling into the streets. Despite having various agendas and beliefs, all protesters have one common goal—get attention. Like theirÂ bureaucraticÂ targets, it's also not entirely clear what gets accomplished with these protests, other than a whole lot of confrontation. In case you missed what's been going down, here's some clips...

Police Attack Demonstrators, Australia, 2006
• Say what you want about the dancing, costume-laden protesters banging on pots and pans,Â but the police response was pretty intense.

Police Fire Rubber Bullets & Tear Gas At Students, Pittsburgh, Sept 2009
• Apparently, the cops felt threatened by Pitt's Class of '09. At the same time, there were several instances of "Anarchists"Â turning up the intensity throughout the day.Â One thing in common with cops and Anarchists at protests: they both hide their faces.Â Jeff Monson, is that you?

Police Brutality Causes Death Of Ian Tomlinson, London, April 2009
• The level of aggression inflicted by Scotland Yard ultimately led to the death of Ian Tomlinson, who was in fact just aÂ bystander. This clip was released days after the police assault, when subsequent public pressureÂ forced an investigation.